Search results for: shrimp

Opening Bell: 11.02.12

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Economy Adds 171,000 Jobs (WSJ)
U.S. payrolls increased by a seasonally adjusted 171,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said Friday. The politically important unemployment rate, obtained by a separate survey of U.S. households, rose one-tenth of a percentage point to 7.9%. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expected a gain of 125,000 in payrolls and a 7.9% jobless rate.

Hedge Fund Cashes In On Greek Bonds (Reuters)
London-based hedge fund Adelante Asset Management has made a 70 percent gain on a sale of Greek bonds, showing the potential for big profits from betting on a recovery in the fortunes of a country effectively off-limits to investors a few months ago…Since the restructuring, Greek government bond prices have strengthened, allowing Adelante to sell them for around 24 cents on the euro, having bought them for around 14 cents in June, the company said. A Greek government bond maturing in 2042, for example, is currently trading at around 20.8 cents on the euro, Thomson Reuters data shows. Other hedge funds have made similar bets. Third Point, a high profile New York hedge fund, for example, has been a significant buying of cut-price Greek bonds.

RBS Eyes Libor Settlement Soon (WSJ)
RBS wants to seal a settlement with regulators over its alleged rigging of key interest rates in the coming months, as the part state-owned bank looks to draw a line under the scandal. Speaking to reporters at the bank’s third-quarter results presentation, Chief Executive Stephen Hester said he would be “disappointed” if he couldn’t provide details on a settlement by February. “We are up for settling with all and everyone as soon as they are ready. But each regulator has to satisfy itself that it has all the facts,” he said.

Deutsche Bank Faces Top Surcharge as FSB Shuffles Tiers (Bloomberg)
Deutsche Bank would be required to hold more capital and Bank of America Corp.’s burden stands to be reduced as global regulators shuffled the competitive balance among the world’s biggest banks. Citigroup, HSBC and JPMorgan join Deutsche Bank as firms that will be targeted for a capital surcharge of 2.5 percent, according to an updated list published yesterday by the Financial Stability Board. The change means Bank of America already exceeds requirements, while Deutsche Bank would be more than 2 percentage points below the new minimum of 9.5 percent. “That limits earnings potential for Citigroup, JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank compared to Bank of America, all other things being equal, so it’s certainly a competitive advantage for them,” said David Kass, a professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Short-Sellers of Europe Set to Be Unmasked (CNBC)
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU regulator, has issued new rules on the short-selling of securities indicating that anyone with short positions of greater than 0.2 percent in an EU company’s shares must report it to regulators. Positions of more than 0.5 percent will be publicly released, naming both the company and the short-seller. Public disclosure is triggered any time that level is hit with each 0.1 percent increase or decrease after that.

NYSE Open For Business Shows Wall Street Still Vulnerable (Bloomberg)
The Securities and Exchange Commission may consider whether exchanges’ emergency regimens need to be bolstered, according to a person familiar with the regulator’s thinking who asked not to be named because the matter is private. The industry’s decision to halt equities and bond trading shows the challenge of maintaining markets when a catastrophe threatens New York City, home to 168,700 securities industry workers. “One of the purposes of having electronic exchanges and basing them away from New York City is for the market to be more robust and stay open,” Charles Jones, a finance professor at Columbia Business School in New York, said in a phone interview. “This is what the back-up plans were designed for. But the markets didn’t open.”

Millions Stuck In Dark, Cold (WSJ)
Power was restored by late Thursday to about half of 10 million households and businesses that lost electricity during the storm, according to the Edison Electric Institute, a trade group that represents investor-owned utilities. But millions more remained cut off from power needed to operate furnaces, heaters, refrigerators and lights. “It’s freezing like an ice box,” said Lydia Crespo, who was using a gas stove to heat her home in Staten Island, N.Y., still without power. “No hot water, no light. All you smell is the gas, the oil, the mold.” The death toll attributed to Sandy reached at least 90, authorities said Thursday.

David Blaine Entertains New Yorkers After Hurricane Sandy (NYP)
When a backup generator at Old Homestead Steakhouse sputtered, the restaurant started serving hundreds of pounds of steaks, burgers, lobster tails and shrimp on the street outside for downtown denizens. David Blaine, the modern-day Harry Houdini who spent days recently being shocked in a steel suit, pitched in to provide spontaneous street entertainment. “David was rumbling by on his motorcycle, and he stopped to see why there was a line on 14th Street,” said a spy, adding 800 chowed down. Blaine then asked restaurant co-owner Greg Sherry if there was a deck of cards in the house. Blaine used the full deck and some spare silverware to perform magic tricks outside for an hour and a half. The magic man, an Old Homestead regular, was offered a doggie bag but said he’s on a special diet in preparation for his next stunt. Read more »

  • 31 Oct 2012 at 12:51 PM

Bloomberg: How Wall Street’s Stomachs Fared During The Hurricane

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…when Falcone and five LightSquared colleagues met over a meal of white-truffle pasta and Barolo at a Washington restaurant in January, they failed to come up with anything they could have done differently, according to a person who was there who asked not to be identified because the meeting was private.– Falcone Waits For Icahn Doubling Down On Network

When JPMorgan, which earned the most of any of the six banks over the four quarters, decided to thank employees for their performance this year, it sent 161,680 individually wrapped buttercream-frosted, chocolate chip, oatmeal-raisin and sugar cookies to retail branches and call centers in the U.S., U.K., Philippines and India.– No Joy On Wall Street As Biggest Banks Earn $63 Billion

Cooperman, 68, said in an interview that he can’t walk through the dining room of St. Andrews Country Club in Boca Raton, Florida, without being thanked for speaking up. At least four people expressed their gratitude on Dec. 5 while he was eating an egg-white omelet, he said.–Bankers Join Billionaires To Debunk ‘Imbecile’ Attack On Top 1%

American International Group Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche, 66, a Kappa Beta Phi member who disclosed in October that he was undergoing treatment for cancer, was there. He looked energetic, the two attendees said. In 1930, the dinner was beefsteak. This year, the meal featured lobster salad, shrimp, pigs-in-a-blanket, lamb chops and pistachio ice cream.– Wall Street Secret Society Kappa Beta Phi Adds Dealmakers With Lehman Rite

Wall Street headhunter Daniel Arbeeny said his “income has gone down tremendously.” On a recent Sunday, he drove to Fairway Market in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn to buy discounted salmon for $5.99 a pound.–Wall Street Bonus Withdrawal Means Trading Aspen For Coupons

The clam-juice cocktails at the private Stock Exchange Luncheon Club, where brokers lined up three deep at the raw bar, contained tomato juice, cooled water from boiled chowder clams, ketchup, celery salt and the option of a freshly shucked clam. Add vodka and they called it a Red Snapper.–How America Ceded Capitalism’s Bastion To German Boerse Seizing Big Board

As someone once said, you can find out a lot about a man or woman’s character during moments of great crisis. Do they fall apart? Do they become shells of their former selves? Do the worst parts of them come out? Do they turn their backs on everything they supposedly once stood for? Or do they, even in moments of darkness, rise to the occasion and demonstrate the morals and values they held when times were good are the very same ones they choose to live by when times are bad? For Bloomberg News reporter Max Abelson, Hurricane Sandy was a test. Would he turn in an article containing few if any reference to the food people consumed during the natural disaster? Or would his commitment to bringing readers exhaustive details re: what his Wall Street subjects eat (see above, here, and here) burn ever bright, to the extent that sources and interviewees elaborating on their situation beyond provisions would find themselves cut off and told, “Just the food and drink, toots. I got a lotta calls to make”? Read more »

Write-Offs: 10.01.12

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$$$ Ben Bernanke is pretty sure the thing he’s doing is not a horrible idea [FRB]

$$$ Four Charged in U.K. Insider-Trading Probe [WSJ]

$$$ Hedge Fund Jana Partners Takes Aim at Agrium [WSJ]

$$$ In Goldman Programmer Case, a Way Around Double Jeopardy [DealBook]

$$$ “The idea is that while equity owners – management – are like owners of call options on the assets of a firm (aka the Merton Model), banks are like down-and-out call option owners, because if their book equity goes down too far they will be forced into a fire-sale or liquidated by regulators. This is a barrier option, and has the interesting property that its vega – the derivative of the value of the equity with respect to asset volatility – is negative when it gets close in value to its barrier.” [Falkenblog]

$$$ Looking at cats on the internet makes you more productive at playing games on the internet [Wonkblog]

$$$ Shia LaBeouf rescues sea lion [tv3.ie]
Read more »

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  • 29 Mar 2012 at 1:54 PM

What Do You Think Of This, Dealbreaker: Burgers, B-Units, Dead Sheep

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Do you have a question for us? About anything? Send it here with the subject line “What do you think of this, Dealbreaker?”

Q: If you had to assemble hedge fund all-star team, that would invest together for a year or five or whatever time-horizon we decide on (the All-Star Game, it’s them versus the market), which managers would be on it? Read more »

  • 17 Aug 2011 at 3:01 PM

Ponzi Schemer/UM Football Team’s Liason To The Hooker World Puts Colleagues To Shame

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Who is the greatest Ponzi schemer of our generation? If we’re evaluating on the basis of sheer size, Bernie Madoff is the obvious answer. But as many of you know, size can only get you so far in life- it’s what you do with what you’ve got that matters. And Berns really didn’t do anything all that exciting with his ill-gotten gains. He bought a bunch of homes, yes, but his primary residence faced Lexington and from what we can tell, he didn’t buy anything that interesting with his cash. Same goes for most other scams- funds are spent on cars, maybe some jewelry, maybe some prostitutes, maybe some Teddy Bears. Frankly, from an investor stand point, it’s a little insulting- if you’re going to rip people off, at least do something real with the money. Make a name for yourself. Penetrate a community like never before. Follow in the footsteps of Nevin Shapiro.

Nevin, and you can quote us on this, became the frontrunner for greatest Ponzi schemer of our time when, from a jail cell, he chose to fuck the University of Miami football program raw, not unlike the players who he arranged prostitutes for over an 8 year period. How did he claim such a tittle? What steps should budding Ponzi schemers hoping to make a name for themselves be taking notes on? Read more »

  • 24 Jun 2011 at 10:43 AM

Obama Enlists Zucchini Pomponettes In Courting Of Wall Street

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As previously mentioned, now that he’s officially running for office again, President Obama is hoping to have the same support from Wall Street he did in 2008. Some financial service employees have remained loyal, others have vowed to never trust him with their hearts again, and others still seem like they could potentially be won back, should Obama play his cards right. Several weeks ago he invited them over to his house to have an intimate talk about where their relationship stands and last night he took them to dinner at Daniel. True, he made them pay ($35,800 each) but perhaps the fact that he took time out to get personal and fed them braised short ribs and citrus marinated strawberries did the trick? Here’s the full dinner menu from last night- is there a particular item that would get you to give him another chance or will he have to try a lot harder than that (perhaps by making you dinner himself and feeding it to you doing the airplane sound) if he wants you to even think about letting your guard down again? Read more »

  • 26 May 2011 at 6:20 PM

Write-Offs: 05.26.11

By Sam Ro

$$$ Strauss-Kahn’s Lawyers Suggest Credibility Issues on Accuser (NYT)

$$$ Ex-IMF chief lawyers complain about police leaks (Reuters)

$$$ Disappointing US Unemployment, GDP Reports Sink Dollar (DJ via WSJ)

$$$ UBS Is Not in Talks to Move Switzerland Headquarters, Chief Gruebel Says (Bloomberg)

$$$ Deutsche Bank CEO says bank could overtake Goldman (Reuters) Read more »

  • 18 Feb 2011 at 11:58 AM

This Summer, Make Sure Your Child Learns How To Run A Fortune 500 Company, The Value Of A Tax Deduction

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If you’re a person of a certain net worth, there are few things more terrifying in this world than the prospect of spawning a fuck-up who will piss it all away. Second to that is the worry that your child may be a perfectly well-adjusted, productive and upstanding member of society but won’t perpetuate the family tradition of making it rain, instead choosing a life path not guided by money. Those who aren’t parents may not understand but just believe me when I say it’s harrowing and will keep you up at night. Michael Loeb, who runs a media-focused private-equity firm, knows this fear well and he’s attacking it head on. Tell your kids to pack their bags because this summer, they’re going to a camp where they’ll learn things far more important than how to basket weave or have fun– they’re going to learn “how to wield their money and power.” Read more »

  • 22 Nov 2010 at 1:47 PM

Who Will Be Next?

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In the last hour, three hedge funds have been raided by the FBI– Level Global, Diamondback Capital, and Loch Capital. According to federal authorities Insider Trading Fest(ivus) 2010 may turn out to be the biggest scandal to (and this is a paraphrase) “rock lots of people’s worlds,” the assumption being that there will be many more bodies. Annoyingly, however, the government is refusing to give any hints as to who’s going down next. And we can’t take the suspense! Read more »

  • 05 Oct 2010 at 1:49 PM
  • MBAs

The Jack Welch Management Institute Is “Booming”

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A few years back, Jack Welch met a man named Michael Clifford at a party. Clifford is the lead investor in the Chancellor University System, LLC, and over shrimp puffs educated Welch on the merits of online schools. Jackles was not initially sold. But, he told the Wall Street Journal, he was impressed with the University of Phoenix, the Harvard of the Internet, which is owned by the Apollo Group, and after a little research decided he wanted in. Welch cut Clifford a check for $2 million and in exchange got his name and face stamped on the school’s MBA program, AKA “The Jack Welch Management Institute.” We first learned of this exciting opportunity in June 2009, before things were officially up and running. There were a few kinks to work out and then time passed and no one said anything about it and eventually we forgot about the whole thing and kind of figured Welch said “fuck it, I don’t feel like doing this anymore.”

Then today during an interview with Bloomberg, Welch mentioned that things are “really starting to take off. We’re getting students from around the world…it’s thrilling.” A quick search indicates Jackles speaks truth. The JWMI has a whole website with courses and whatnot, where tomorrow’s “winners” (that’s what Jack calls them) are being groomed. Read more »

  • 28 Sep 2010 at 11:45 AM

Paul Krugman Is Lonely

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Sure, he has his cats, but they can only provide so much.

For more than a year, the bearded man consuming a shrimp salad at an Upper West Side cafe has been a prophet of doom, warning that the economy could slide into a “third depression” unless our leaders come to their senses and follow his advice. “I felt like a really lonely voice,” says Paul Krugman, an unknotted blue tie draped around his neck. “It’s been really frustrating.” But he keeps hammering away, demanding action in one New York Times column after another, hoping “to establish a counter-narrative against what everyone else is saying.”…In person, Krugman is several shades warmer, grousing about jet lag and delays in renovating the $1.7 million co-op he recently bought on Riverside Drive. “He’s very sweet,” says fellow Times columnist Gail Collins. “I’ve never heard him yell or get teed off at somebody.”

Paul Krugman, Incensed And Insistent About Our Economic Ills [WaPo]

  • 09 Aug 2010 at 11:25 AM
  • MBAs

Hedge Fund Manager Richard Perry Also Gifted Party Planner

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Things have been going prettay prettay prettay well for Richard Perry these last six months. His fund, Perry Capital, is up nine percent year to date, his beastly neighbors have quit bitching about the fact that he was burning their eyes out, and this past weekend, his daughter got married to a HBS grad who could potentially take over the family business one day (the SIL is an analyst at the Baupost Group). And speaking of the nuptials! Richie can be credited with not only making sure the celebration had the puffiest shrimp money could buy and a cake that was to die for but delightful ambiance and riveting entertainment for his guests as well. Read more »